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After coming up empty in his first four plate appearances, Vance Honeycutt came through when it mattered most.
The future first-round pick lined a two-out single into left field to score Jackson Van De Brake in the bottom of the ninth, giving Carolina a 3-2 win against No. 12 Virginia in the opening game of the Men’s College World Series in Omaha.
VANCE HONEYCUTT DOES IT AGAIN!
NORTH CAROLINA STARTS THE #MCWS WITH A WALK-OFF WIN AGAINST VIRGINIAโผ๏ธ pic.twitter.com/AxjsSRW8XX
— ESPN (@espn) June 14, 2024
“Heck of a game,” said UNC head coach Scott Forbes. “Two really, really good teams. I have a lot of respect for [head coach] Brian O’Connor and Virginia… we’ve had so many battles against them, so I wasn’t surprised that we had another one.”
Carolina took an early lead against Cavaliers starter Evan Blanco, scoring on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the first. But the Tar Heel bats went quiet until the late innings, and in the meantime Virginia scored runs in the third and sixth to take a 2-1 lead.
UNC would finally make more noise against Blanco in the seventh, as Alex Madera slapped a lead-off single into left field and then scored on a hit from Casey Cook. Cook, who came into the game with zero NCAA Tournament RBIs to his name, finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored.
“My at-bats weren’t terrible the last two weeks; balls just weren’t falling,” Cook said. “I just stuck to what I was doing all year, and luckily today balls started falling.”
Dalton Pence pitched the final 3.1 innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one baserunner on a hit-by-pitch. He struck out two and eventually earned the win after Honeycutt’s walk-off.
“Dalton was Dalton,” Forbes said. “He’s been our horse the whole season.”
That set the stage for the bottom of the ninth inning, where Carolina would have a chance to earn its third walk-off win of the NCAA Tournament. Forbes called an audible to lead off the frame, pinch-hitting Jackson Van De Brake for Alberto Osuna. Van De Brake came into the game with just 14 hits in 72 at-bats all season, but paid Forbes’ confidence off with a lead-off double down the right-field line.
“That’s what you play for,” Van De Brake said. “You stay ready on your off days, you keep your swing going. When your number’s called, you just go up there and let it go.”
“There’s a reason this team is like it is,” Forbes said. “There’s a kid, All-ACC last year, [it] hasn’t gone like he wanted it to, and he steps up there and hits a double.”
Van De Brake advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt, but a pop-out from Colby Wilkerson failed to bring home the winning run. With two outs, Honeycutt stepped to the plate.
“I just wanted to just go at it slow, just try to slow myself down,” he said.
After swinging and missing on a 2-0 pitch, the junior laced the game-winning single into left field to set off the Tar Heel celebration and earn his second walk-off hit of the NCAA Tournament.
“You shouldn’t feel like he’s going to come through every time,” Cook said, “but that’s how I felt.”
It’s UNC’s fourth win when trailing or tied in the ninth inning during the NCAA Tournament. To put that into perspective, the team has only played seven tournament games.
“The funniest part of the day was at the end of the game when Parks Harber was talking to me and [Assistant] Coach [Jesse] Wierzbicki,” Forbes said. “[He said], ‘How do you guys make it through the game? I don’t even know if I’m going to live to be 50. I think my heart’s going to just fail.’ I can relate to what Parks Harber feels like, I can tell you that.”
Now, the Diamond Heels will move into the winner’s bracket in the event, where they will meet No. 1 Tennessee on Sunday at 6 p.m. Central time.
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Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter
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